They're talking about the primaries, and frankly they have a point. When your party is built on anti-intellectualism and preying on fear and emotion, extra debates are pretty-much useless. You need just enough to get the talking points out there in the news, fire up the few members of the base who think they're "the smart ones" because they watch debates, and create sound bites. After that, have the Convention, pay the delegates, declare your candidate and move on.

They are also trying to give themselves the opportunity to point and laugh at the Democrats, who are notoriously terrible at getting their act together and whose convention - let's be honest - looks like a goddamn three-ring circus by comparison.

It's pretty evident that given enough time, any political candidate will eventually put his foot in his mouth. In recent history, the definition of "enough time" for the Republicans is a lot shorter than for the Democrats. Ergo, a viable Republican strategy should be to limit the amount of time their candidates spend in front of open microphones.

fta"I think a traveling circus of debates is insanity in this party," Priebus told about 200 delegates. "We're proposing to have fewer than 10, and this time around, we're going to pick the moderators."

But the last debates were an unbeatable drinking game, Priebus, you jerk.

Or maybe they should find some good candidates. They run out any of the decent ones they have calling them RINO's. Maybe they will unhitch the crazy train they created like they said they should do. Hell, the establishment republicans look sane in comparison the the Teahadists.

Notabunny:But the last debates were an unbeatable drinking game, Priebus, you jerk.

What cracked me up was Huntsman was the only one that had a suit that fit right. Even Romney's suit didn't fit right, his pants looked like they were about 3 inches too long. And as for the rest they looked like they stopped off at Men's Warehouse two hours before the debate.

He's actually correct on this one. Having 35 bazillion debates last time just made the party look petty and unfocused, especially since there was never the slightest question that they wouldn't nominate Romney in the end. If they had spent less time bickering and more time coalescing their resources, Romney would likely have lost by 1 or 2 points instead of three, and might have gotten 250ish EV instead of 206.

If they only have a few debates this time, and coalesce quickly around Christie, they'll have more time to smear Hilary and spread as much disinformation and outright lies as possible. Hell, they might even gain 2 swing states, instead of just one. They'll still lose hard of course - demographics, they are a biatch - but he'll probably get even more of the aging white vote than Romney did.

Gee, Republicans understand how the free market works. They understand that if they reduce the supply of Republican ideas, then this will create greater demand and interest in them. I'm stunned that liberals are outraged by the most basic of all economic tenets. People tend to be outraged by things they don't understand.

WhyteRaven74:Notabunny: But the last debates were an unbeatable drinking game, Priebus, you jerk.

What cracked me up was Huntsman was the only one that had a suit that fit right. Even Romney's suit didn't fit right, his pants looked like they were about 3 inches too long. And as for the rest they looked like they stopped off at Men's Warehouse two hours before the debate.

Ron Paul is my favorite wingnut whackadoo. He's so sincere. But the poor guy always looks like he's just stepped out of a Good Will dressing room.

Mike_LowELL:Gee, Republicans understand how the free market works. They understand that if they reduce the supply of Republican ideas, then this will create greater demand and interest in them. I'm stunned that liberals are outraged by the most basic of all economic tenets. People tend to be outraged by things they don't understand.

Mike_LowELL, you ignorant slut. Most low-information voters aren't interested in the marketplace of ideas, and are instead content with single-provider ideology.

1) Paint your favorite John McNaughton mural from memory2) Perform an interpretive dance undeniably and authoritatively proving that, had he taken up the instrument, Ronald Reagan would have been the greatest banjo player in history3) Who can scream the Pledge of Allegiance the loudest?

Notabunny:fta "I think a traveling circus of debates is insanity in this party," Priebus told about 200 delegates. "We're proposing to have fewer than 10, and this time around, we're going to pick the moderators."

But the last debates were an unbeatable drinking game, Priebus, you jerk.

[img.photobucket.com image 570x352]

dear god i really hope that wasn't the best they had, just the ones nuts enough to run.

Mike_LowELL:Gee, Republicans understand how the free market works. They understand that if they reduce the supply of Republican ideas, then this will create greater demand and interest in them. I'm stunned that liberals are outraged by the most basic of all economic tenets. People tend to be outraged by things they don't understand.

That's beautiful. I think I have witnessed enough Fark perfection for on day. I'm going outside.

Notabunny:fta "I think a traveling circus of debates is insanity in this party," Priebus told about 200 delegates. "We're proposing to have fewer than 10, and this time around, we're going to pick the moderators."

But the last debates were an unbeatable drinking game, Priebus, you jerk.

[img.photobucket.com image 570x352]

I think the Republican party's issues can be summed up in that picture alone.

The only person up there reasoned, moderate, and intelligent enough to actually manage the office of President is all the way to the right of the stage, with the most physical distance between himself and any other candidate.

Benevolent Misanthrope:Because People in power are Stupid: As opposed to that other strategy of losing miserably in a debate and then declaring victory.

Why not both?

They're talking about the primaries, and frankly they have a point. When your party is built on anti-intellectualism and preying on fear and emotion, extra debates are pretty-much useless. You need just enough to get the talking points out there in the news, fire up the few members of the base who think they're "the smart ones" because they watch debates, and create sound bites. After that, have the Convention, pay the delegates, declare your candidate and move on.

They are also trying to give themselves the opportunity to point and laugh at the Democrats, who are notoriously terrible at getting their act together and whose convention - let's be honest - looks like a goddamn three-ring circus by comparison.

Um. You didn't watch the two conventions in 2012 did you? Either that or you're talking about what the GOP faithful think.

Notabunny:Mike_LowELL, you ignorant slut. Most low-information voters aren't interested in the marketplace of ideas, and are instead content with single-provider ideology.

Conservatives, by the very definition of the word, are open to other ideas. Some conservatives think abortions should lead to jail time. Some conservatives think abortion doctors should be killed. How is this not a diversity of ideas?

Never happen. The candidates need to be willing to limit their exposure for the greater good of the party. Do you think that will happen? Why would the other candidates solidify behind a front runner when the whole lesson of the last Republican primary season was that the front runner inevitably gets into trouble as the media starts sorting through the skeletons in his closet? If you were not a schmuck you wouldn't be a member of the Republican Party and if you weren't a self-centered egotistical schmuck you wouldn't be running for the nomination. The likelihood of also-ran candidates stepping back gracefully once a front runner is anointed are zero to nil.

-The way we work over this poor boy's name ....it makes me wonder how he got thru school w/o being mentally scarred for life.

-Inarticulate? Ryan was worse than inarticulate. He gave us a Full Jindal.

-Aww, Gee wizz. Rinse Piebus is gonna be upset with you cuz you "pounced".

-Pounce Ribald shouldn't use words like "pounce" that sound like his name.

-Whaa! They're picking on us for our bullshiat!

-"They Hate Us For Our Derp!"

-i don't know about you, but i'm always waiting to pounce on racism.

-Paul Ryan the poverty warrior. If there's a soup kitchen anywhere in the country that has clean pots and pans that need an reenactment of what it must have looked like when they were actually cleaned, the poverty warrior will be there with film crew in tow to do his part in his lifelong fight against poverty.

Benevolent Misanthrope:They are also trying to give themselves the opportunity to point and laugh at the Democrats, who are notoriously terrible at getting their act together and whose convention - let's be honest - looks like a goddamn three-ring circus by comparison.

Conventions and meetings held by groups of people who have differing ideas, theories, proposals and solutions tend to be more chaotic than those held by people who have more like minded ideologies and hive mind behavior. Fortunately, the "big tent" of ideas the democrats hold is actually their strength and not their weakness, like a variance of natural species in an ecosystem instead of a republican monoculture.

When a disease like the Tea Party invades the crop it can (and has) destroyed many of the good ideas and candidates in the republican party, while the fringe nutjobs with D's after their names don't infect the whole because they cannot get a grip on a large enough part of the electorate to ruin it. The R's put their nutjobs front and center, and their conventions are predictable.

Priebus said shortening the primary process by moving up the national convention at which the nominee is typically selected to June and cutting the number of debates are "not an establishment takeover. This is using your brain. Everything's not a conspiracy."